Varsity runners sprint to third

By Peter Ronco

This past Saturday, the men's varsity cross country team finished
third in a strong field of competitors at the annual LeMoyne College
Invitational. The junior varsity team continued its dominance over other
Division III teams with another victory.

The warm and muggy conditions on race day were not exactly perfect racing
conditions, but that did not seem to bother the MIT junior varsity team as
they prepared for the first race. A few runners were slightly apprehensive
about facing the LeMoyne course, often the subject of veterans' war
stories.

Due to this apprehension and respect for a large hill in the first
half-mile of the race, the MIT team stayed in the middle of the pack for
the first mile. Then, with four miles left in the race, small groups of
three or four MIT runners began to move on the leaders. After the next two
miles of woody terrain had passed, MIT had improved its overall position to
third, behind Geneseo and Ithaca Colleges. Spectators, including Coach
Halston Taylor, felt that not much would change after this point in the
race.

But the MIT runners obviously had other plans. With two miles to go, John
Noland '95 pushed his way into second place and began working on the first
place man. At the same time, Eric Olson '95 and Jon Claman '93 worked over
their opponents to move into excellent positions. These moves inspired
other team members and the entire team gradually began picking off
opponents.

With 400 meters left in the race, Claman powered past two more Geneseo
runners to finish fourth in the meet. Along with Noland and Olson, this
gave MIT a two, three, four finish. Carl Munklewitz '95 and Jesse Hull '95
filled out MIT's top five and enabled the JV team to continue its
undefeated season against Division III teams.

Inspired by the tremendous performance of its junior varsity, the MIT
varsity team raced its way to a third-place finish in the later meet.
Again, the team started out at a controlled pace in the first half mile of
the race so as not to get burned out by the large hill. After cresting the
hill, however, the entire seven-man team followed its strategy and began to
move on the rest of the field. Students from the Rochester Institute of
Technology, which is presently ranked seventh in the nation, followed the
same plan and moved past the MIT team. These two teams, along with Ithaca,
moved farther ahead for the next two miles. After half of the race was
finished, the field had essentially narrowed to RIT, Ithaca, St. Lawrence
and MIT.

RIT easily took first place with 32 points, leaving Ithaca and MIT to
battle for second. In the last 300 meters of the race, the Ithaca team
barely sprinted past MIT. Led by Jesse Darley '95 and Ethan Crain '95, MIT
accumulated 77 points, just four points out of second. Jerry Pratt '94,
David Moyle '94 and Peter Ronco '92 rounded out MIT's top five finishers.

Despite their third-place finish, the team remained upbeat after the
meet. Placing well in such a strong field (MIT beat 17 other schools) gives
the team confidence that it can perform well in the New England Division
III meet, which is the qualifying race for the NCAA Nationals. The junior
varsity's performance means MIT cross country can look forward to several
more years of success in the immediate future.